Hand rail systems known as balustrades are useful and often attractive or decorative architectural features used in buildings and along walkways. Balustrades can provide security or assistance for people walking up or down a stairway or along an elevated walkway. Users can grip the handrail, or bannister, of a balustrade for support to assist in climbing or descending stairs as well as for security against accidentally falling. Balustrades can also improve the aesthetics of a building or other architecture.
Balustrades generally consist of a hand rail supported by a plurality of vertically extending, horizontally spaced supports called balusters. Each baluster is itself supported on, and secured to, a floor or a step of a staircase. Balusters can be made of wood or metal but metal balusters have become popular due to their attractive design features. However the installation of metal balusters is more problematic than the installation of wood balusters and there remains room for improvement in this regard.
Conventional installation of metal balusters involves the use of epoxy resin which is time consuming, requires the handling of chemicals, and can be a messy process. Conventional installation of metal balusters involves drilling a large hole in the tread or floor for each baluster. Also, since each baluster must be accurately located on the floor or step, the installation of metal balusters has generally been left to skilled professional carpenters. Furthermore, even when installed by one with the requisite skill, the installation takes considerable time.
Especially where efficiency and economy are of concern, it would be advantageous if balusters would be installed in a more efficient manner. It would also be advantageous if balusters could be successfully installed by carpenters with limited carpentry talent or even “do-it-yourselfers.” As the tolerances allowable for the location of each baluster are small, their installation can be challenging, and it would be advantageous if a device or method were provided which would assist the installer to accurately locate each baluster.
For example, conventional installation of metal balusters is done before painting so that messy epoxy can be covered up by painting the installation. It would be highly desirable to have a method of installation which achieved a good looking result but could be done after painting rather than before painting.
In accordance with the present invention, a novel anchor post and its method of installation is provided to greatly simplify and speed up the installation of hollow metal balusters. The method of the present invention need not be done before painting but can be carried out after painting. Use of an anchor post of this invention facilitates the accurate positioning of each baluster. Power tools such as cordless drivers can be used to easily install each anchor post once it is positioned. Also, it is often a problem in the field that manufactures of hollow metal balusters have slightly different sizes of hollow interiors due to different wall thicknesses or other manufacturing considerations. Therefore, it would be desirable to have an anchor post which can accommodate balusters having slightly varying sizes of hollow interiors.
Further understanding of the present invention will be had from the following specification and claims taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.